Output details

Priest Skear

Priest Skear is a short sequence of poems which records the drowning of the Chinese cocklepickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004, weaving in with the narrative a personal memory of a near-drowning experience in early childhood. The research challenges included: 1 in the title poem, a formal experiment in poetic riffing: each of the cantos begins with the line “They go down” or “They come up,” changed each time to introduce variations. 2 How might enjambment, line-breaking and repetition be used to mimic the movement of the sea in a combining of the ocular and aural? 3 In the titular twelve-part poem, how with each beginning can the poem twelve times strikes a new, even contradictory angle on the nature of the drowning? Research included exploration of a range of cinematic influences, such as the early work of Kurosawa, and commentators found reminiscences of Hopkins, Four Quartets and Pope. Newspaper coverage and online information was read as it appeared, and I consulted local experts on the topographical details of Morecambe Bay quicksands and tides.